Archive for December 2011

Every once in awhile you meet somebody that you find fascinating and exceptionally helpful. For me, Don Holbrook fits that description well. I first met Don at an annual International Economic Development Council meeting in Atlanta. I had heard a lot about Don and made a point of making his acquaintance. Since that initial meeting, Don […]

“Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.” Bruce Lee The beginning of any new year is a time for self-refection and resolutions. It is also a great time for a personal brand audit. Dust off your brand promise and objectively assess if you lived up to it or […]

Concept development is often seen as confusing, but while challenging to implement it really is fairly simple to understand. You can use the process to test the appeal of a potential decision or as a tool to help you uncover a heart and mind opening way to communicate your brand promise. The key is to […]

One of the areas I get a lot of questions on is brand equity (or as I prefer to call it – brand promise). Most people want to know how to determine if they have a strong and compelling promise, and once they’ve decided on a specific promise they want to know how to ensure […]

I was recently asked by a colleague to weigh in with my thoughts on a conversation in the LinkedIn ED 2.0 Group talking about the importance of selling skills in the economic development profession. I was happy to do so, because understanding how to sell effectively in any industry is a key to success. I […]

I want to highlight three tools/reports I have been exposed to lately that I think you may find valuable (or at least interesting). Location Benchmark Portal This is a new online database service offering from Investment Consulting Associates. The tool allows you to compare individual countries on a wide range of competitive attributes. Here is […]

Brand building is tough work. One of the biggest challenges is to translate your branding strategy into desired customer/consumer behavior. For consumers you want them to try, use and ultimately adopt your product or service as their preferred choice. In economic development, the desired behavior you want is for CEOs to decide to stay, expand […]

I have been investing some time talking with people about their approach to strategic planning and have found that the majority of them engage in the process primarily to define and deploy priorities in their Organization/Department. This is certainly a great application of strategic planning, but not the only one. Strategic planning can also be […]

I have always learned that you get what you measure, and I must admit throughout my career the saying has been true more often than not. But, it is important to select the right measures and to understand their limits so you can have confidence in your assessment of whether your brand is on or […]

The Strength Of Your Social Media Is Determined By The Strength Of Your Content Social media continues to present an enigma for brand builders. There is a general sense that social media is the way an increasing number of consumers/customers prefer to engage with companies, brands and communities. But, there are precious few examples of […]